Improvement in revolving fire-arms



F. Al THUER.

Revolver.

No. 82,258. Patented sept. 15, 1863.

UNITED STATES PATENT OEEICE.

F. ALEXANDER THUER, OF EAST BARTFORD, ASSIGNOR TO COLTS ARMS MANUFACTURING COMPANY, OF HARTFORD, CONNECTICUT.

IMPROVEMENT IN REVOLVING FlRAE-ARMS.

specification formingv part of' Letters Patent No. 82.255. dats-september 15,1868.

To all whom it 'may concern:

Be it known that I, F. ALEXANDER THUER, of East Hartford, in the county of Hartford and State of Connecticut, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Revolving Fire3Arms; and 1 do hereby declare the following to be afnll, clear, and exact description of the same, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference marked thereon.

My invention relates to the kind of pistol or rie which has a revolving chambered breech or cylinder capable of being loaded from the front, the principal object of the said invention being to produce a device by which arevolver adapted for the use of loose ammunition can atsmall cost be changed, so that cartridges having primed metallic shells may be used.

It has for a further object to provide, in a revolver, for the ejection at willof the cartridges or the empty cases from the chambers of the rotating breech, and also to provide against accidental discharge of the weapon.

To these ends my invention consists in placing a laterally-moving tiring-pin holder between the hammer and the rotating chambered cylinder as a safety device. A

It also consists in combining a rotating breech having chambers open at the rear and a laterally-movable plate located between the hammer and the breech and carrying an ejecting mechanism which is capable of being made to act by blows ot" the hammer, and my invention consists, lastly, in combining with a laterally-movable plate located behind the cylinder an. ejecting mechanism and a tiring-piu so arranged that either may at will be caused to act by blows of the hammer, substantially as hereinafter clearly set forth.

To enable others skilled in the art to make and use my invention, I will proceed to describe its application. f

In the accompanying drawings, makingpart of this specification, Figure 1 shows a longitudinal section through' -the rear part-s ot'a Colts revolver with my invention applied thereto. Fig. 2 is a'transverse sectionfat line X X, Fig. 7, showing the ring g inithe properv position` to cause the ignition of a charge by the fall of the hammer.l fFig. 3 is the same,v

but shows the ring g in therfpr'ope'rf position to cause the ejecting mechanism to be struck by the hammer. Fig. 4 is a cross-section at line Y Y, Fi g.:7, looking forward, and showing the ring g turned into such a position that the hammer can strike neither the firing-pin nor the ejector. Figs. 5 and 6 are side views of the arm with the ring g in the same rposition as in Fig. 2, an`d with parts of the metal removed to show the contents of the ring and of one side chamber of the cylinder. Fig. 5 shows the condition of the parts when the hammer isat full-cock, and Fig. Gshows their position after the hammer has fallen and an empty eartridgecase been thereby ej ectedfrom the chamber. Figs. 7 and 8 are plan viewsof the parts, showing respectively the ring g in the positions of Figs. 2 and 3; and Fig. 9 is a perspective view of the system of levers by which a blow of the hammer causes the ejection of a shell from a chamber not in line with the hammer.

Similar letters of reference denote the same part in the several figures.

In the above named figures, a, represents the frame, b the barrel, c the hammer. d the mainspring, and e the rammer, of a Colts pistol. These parts are in no manner changed from their usual forms anddimensions. The mechanism for rotating the cylinder f also remains unchanged.

f is the cylinder, which may be made by turning oft' the rear part of the original cylinder far enough to expose the ends of all the chambers, the part in the rear of these being reduced to the diameter of the ratchetmwhich remains unchanged. This leaves aspace between the original frame a and the end's ofthe chambers, which is nearly filled byV a ring, g, which tits loosely around the reduced rear part ofthe cylinderf. Its outside diameter equals that of -thechambered part of the cylinder.

The-ring or :annular plateg has in .its face a vdeepannnlar groove,the ends of whichk nearly meet. Through the? solid metal between the ends of the'grooveza hole is drille`d,in which a tiring-pin or punch ,'f, is contained.V This tiringpin reaches through .the ring from front to rear,

and is'of the proper lengt-hito transmit ablow of the hammer :to the endofthe cartridge, -which lies'in-line with/thehammer: s

u; iThe" annulargroove infthe' ring'g contains a system of two curved levers, kand l, the fulcra of j which (about in th'e center of their length) are two screws, m and n, fixed in the ring. The first lever, k, has on its first end a prong, o, which passes backward through a hole in the back of the ring g. Its other end lies in front of the iirst end of the second lever, Z, the other end of which is provided with an enlarged cylindrical protuberance or head, p, projecting forward about to the face of the ring g. A short extension `of the lever l beyond pis pressed upon by a spring, s, which forces back this end of the lever l, and thus causes the prong o in thetirst end of the lever k to be protruded backward as far as possible. A recess, t, is cut in the back of the ring, at the place where the prong o protrudes, to give the face of the hammer access to the said prong. A similar notch,

fit, is cut in the back of the ring, where the liring-pin i cuts through, and another notch or recess, e, is made midway between t and u, for a purpose hereinafter explained.

is a spring the free end of which projects beyond the periphery of the ring g. It serves, by catching over one or thc other edge ofthe frame a,) in connection with the heads of the screws y and n, to hold the ringg in two differentpositions, (respectively shown by Figs. 3 and 2 A ball, z, projecting from the ring'serves as a thumb-piece to move the ring about its axis into either of the positions represented in the drawings.

The centers of the tiring-pin z', the prong o.of the first lever, 7c, and the headp ofthe second lever, l, lie in a circle corresponding with the centers of the chambers in the cylinder, and the length ofthe levers is such that when the ring stands in the position of Fig. 3 the prong ol is in line with the hammer and the head p of the lever l corresponds with the second chamber to the right. When the ring stands as in Fig. 2 the ringpin t' lies in line with the hammer, and will transfer the blow of the hammer to the primer ofthe cartridge, which is inline with the barrel. Y

The operation of my invention is as follows: The chambers of the cylinder, which may be tapering, are loaded from the front with metalcased cartridges in the same way as with the paper cartridges commonly used, the charges being rammed home with the rammer e. When it is desired to lire the charges the ring g is turned to the right by taking hold ofthe ball z, and the tiring-pin is thus brought in line with thehammer,-as in Figs. 2,1, and 7. Tile charges may then be successively fired in the usual way by cocking and snapping the hammer. After tiring the charges the empty metallic cases or shells may be ejected by turning the ring gto the left into the position shown in Figs. 3', 5, 6, and 8,and then operating the hammer by cock-V ing and snapping it as in the act oflring. The

hammer now performs theadditional functions of ejectin g the shells by striking the prong o of the lever lo, which causes the head p ofthe second lever, l, to start suddenly forward, and by When' it is desired to carry the pistol loaded the ring g may be turnedinto the position shown byFig. 4. This brings the notch e into line with the hammer, which maybe lowered so that its end enters the said notch and prevents the ring from turning. The tiring-pin t' is thus turned away from in front of the hammer and is left in a position where it is guarded by the frame from blows of any kind, while as there is no means of communicating blows ofthe hammer to the cartridges their accidental discharge is fully provided against.

I prefer to so proportion the chambers of the cylinder and the cartridges that the rear ends of the cartridges will protrude from the chambers far enough to permit the tiring-pin and ejector to perform their functions without entering the chambers. This prevents the liability of the rotation of the cylinder being impeded if the pin or ejectorshould get outof order and tend to remairrin their forward positions.' The end of the firing-pin is bluntand rounded, so that it will be forced back by the ends ot' the cartridges when the cylinder is rotated. A thin extension of the periphery of the ring q hides the protruding ends of the shells.

Fig. 10 represents a modification of my invention applicable particularly to rechambered cylinders, Fig. 10 beinga section corresponding with Fig. 3 and showing the ring g in the ejectng position. Fig. 1l is a perspective view of the ejector l. Accented letters of reference in these gures denote parts corresponding in function to those marked with the same letter in the other figures, z" beingthe tiring-pin, arranged and operating in the ring g', the same as in Fig. 3. l' is the ejector, which, instead of being a lever, consists' of a short segmentalpiece which slides in a perforation through the ring g. This ejector is furnished with a prong, o', on its rear end for the hammer c to strike against, and with a head, p', at the forward end, which lies iu line with the edge of the cartridge in the first chamber to th'e right of the hammer, looking forward. The ejector l is thrown bodily forward when struck by the hammer and transfers the blow to the end of the shellfwhich it ejects. The operation of this modification is the same as that of the one first described.

My invention is applicable to arms differing in construction from Uolts. In cases where the frame extends over the top of the cylinder, as

in Remingtons, the thumb-piece on the movable plate gwill need to be located on one side instead of on top.

New arms may be made embodying my invention, in which it may be well to attach to the frame, between the hammer and the cylinder, a movable piece which shall perform thev functions ofthe ring g-as, for example, a segmental piece capable ot' lateral movements around a hub concentric with the axis of' the cylinder. This movable piece may be hidden in the substance ofthat partot' the framecalled the recoil-shield, and it may contain thering-pin alone, or the ejector, or may bear both of these.

Having described several applications of my invention, I disclaim as new ejectingcartridgecases by blows ofthe hammer, either direct or transmitted to shells in chambers not in line with the hammer. I also disclaim the usc ot' a. ring or plate at the rear of the chambers and containing the tiring-pin, when the said plate is not movable in such away that the firingpin may be moved out of range with the hammer; but

What I claim as my invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the United States, ls- I 1. The laterally-movable piece g, containing the firing-pin z', in combination with the rotating chambered breech and the hammer of a revolver, substantially as described, and for a safety device.

2. A laterally-movable plate, g, located be tween the hammer and cylinder ofa revolver,

' and bearing the shell-ejector, substantially as and for the purpose hereinbet'ore set forth.

3. The combination of' a movable piece supporting both the tiring-pin and an ejector with the hammer ,of a revolver, and with a rotating breech having chambers open atthe rear, when arranged to permit the use at will'of the hammer, either as a means qt' igniting the charges orofexpelling the empty shells from the chambers, substantially as hereinbefore specitied.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand this 17th day of January, 1868. t

F. ALEXANDER THUER. 

